In various commercial military aircraft and aerospace vehicles, space availability and weight are serious concerns for any components used on such vehicles. In such applications, actuator devices are often employed to perform a control function such as moving another element. Such actuators are often used in fire suppression systems and within other electronic components where it is necessary to quickly release a cooling or inert, pressurized gas into the device in the event an overheating or a fire condition occurs. Still further, such actuators are used in applications where rapid inflation of a separate pneumatic device is required upon the occurrence of a specific event.
In all of the above applications, it is imperative that the actuator be extremely compact, relatively simple in construction and cost effective to manufacture and implement. Previously developed actuators have suffered from drawbacks in one or all of these areas.
Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive, compact, pneumatic actuator that can be readily and cost effectively implemented into a variety of electronic systems and components for controlling a wide variety of external devices/components.